Corporate Culture

It was a firsthand experience for me of how corporate culture flows from top to the very bottom of the organization structure, how the person in the lowest rung of the organization hierarchy is the best evidence of the policies an organization sets and the values it upholds.

It was one of those regular pleasant rituals of weekend shopping. After finishing my shopping at the mall, on my way back I stopped at a filling station to refill petrol in my car. As the fuel meter started rolling, I reached for my wallet in the trouser back pocket. I got a jolt on realizing that the pocket was empty, there was no wallet. I checked my other pockets, still no wallet. 

I got down from the car in desperation, checked under the car seats, but no sign of my wallet. I checked the car boot, searched through the shopping bags one by one, still no sign of my wallet. As I checked my pockets again, I felt a rustle of paper in one of my side pockets. There was some currency along with the bill I had settled at the shopping mall. I sensed a momentary relief at being saved from the embarrassment of facing the fuel station attendant with no cash or card to pay for the fuel. 

I was still dazed and reeling from the shock of not finding my wallet. It was not just the cash I was worried about. All my important stuff were in the wallet, my driving license, credit card, debit cards, more importantly, my residence card (work permit).  I knew very well what happens to expatriates who are by bad luck caught without legal documents in an alien land. 

I quickly paid up for the fuel and started driving back to the shopping mall, analyzing the situation. If there was cash in my pocket along with the bill, I did take out my wallet for settling the bill. Then the only explanation for the missing wallet was,  either I left it at the cash counter while putting the shopping items into the shopping bags or I might have placed it in the shopping cart while loading the shopping bags into the car boot. 

As I reached the mall, I found the parking lot where I had parked my car earlier and looked for the shopping cart. There were a couple of carts, but I did not find my wallet in any of them. I quickly rushed to the cash counter where I had earlier settled the bill. The cashier was busy billing a customer. The uniformed mall porter was busy putting stuff into shopping bags. He looked at my flushed face and with a smile said "You must be looking for your wallet. Please contact customer service". I felt a sense of relief run through the whole of my body. I felt like a drowning person who had been thrown a life line. I said a thanks but only a mumble came out of my mouth as it was dry with the shock that I had endured. 

I rushed to the customer service counter and I started mumbling "I lost my wallet...". Even before I could finish the sentence, the customer service staff asked me for my name. As I mentioned my name, he took out my wallet from under the counter, took out my residence card, verified my name and my picture, and returned my wallet to me. That is all it took, for the entire grueling, nerve racking episode to culminate into an unbelievable relief. 

I put the wallet into my pocket, and as I walked towards my car, thanking my stars, cursing my carelessness, I saw the same porter collecting empty shopping carts from the parking lot. With the same jolly smile on his face, he asked me if I got my wallet back. I said "Yes, I got it back. Actually I was quite worried wondering if I had left it in the shopping cart".  I was in an elated, thankful, and generous mood. So I took out some cash from my wallet to give it to the porter. He refused to take it. 

What he said next really bowled me over "Not only in the shopping cart, wherever a you lose your personal belonging within the complex of the mall, you will get it back. This is the policy of our mall. Our bosses remind us again and again that we have our jobs because of customers like you. Even if one customer stops coming to the mall due to such reason as losing their personal belonging, it is not good for the business. We make sure such a thing doesn't happen". 

I was amazed, stunned beyond words, listening to the simple, humble porter. He was a true reflection of the culture of his organization. Yes, the policies the top management makes trickles down to every worker to the very last rung of organizational hierarchy.

I had experienced this wonderful display of corporate culture, the business ethics, at Ruwi branch of Lulu Hyper Market in Oman. 

Now, I keep wondering if such a thing was possible in India too! Would I have got back my wallet intact!! I really wonder!!!

Unexpected act of kindness

This is an incident that happened almost twenty years ago but I still remember it very distinctly. My contract had ended with the organization I was working with. I had option of choosing from couple of offers for a job change. I was quite keen on one of them. But as the recruitment procedures were taking more time than expected, I decided to wait for the completion of formalities for the new job of my choice and hence had to leave Oman.

I did not want to sell my car as I was certain of returning, hence I decided to transfer it in the name of a friend for safe keeping until my return. My car was in joint ownership of the organization and myself. Therefore, I needed letter from the organization to transfer the ownership to my friend.

It is not a secret that many organizations in this region carry a “colonial” attitude in dealing with their employees. Most managers go around with a demeanor that of a dictator. They literally treat the employees as slaves. There was this invisible sword of “sacking” hanging always over one’s head. They would resort to everything possible to make things difficult for the employee. Things may have changed now for the better. I would not know as I have been very fortunate to be working with organizations that valued the worth of its employees, since I left this organization.

It was the last working day of the week, closing time was 1:00 PM. I was quite apprehensive of things moving slowly, hence I went to the transport office first thing in the morning. As expected,  nobody gave me definite answer on when I would get the letter. Finally after following it up several times, I got the letter along with "end of service settlement" around 11:30 AM. I went to the bank, encashed the settlement cheque and rushed to the Vehicle Registration Office. I had to hurry because the office closed at 1:00 PM.

The Vehicle Registration Office was more crowded than usual, as it was the last day of the week. I had to complete three procedures, application form verification, fee payment and transfer completion. As I was standing in the queue, I kept glancing at my watch. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, I got my application verified and moved over to the payment counter. By then it was almost 12:30 PM and there were only three men ahead of me. I heaved a sigh of relief, as I stood awaiting my turn. And then, it happened! 

The whole place went dark, it was a power outage. I stood there dazed and stunned, wondering "oh no, what will happen now, it was already approaching closing time, what will happen to my car"! I was jolted back to reality by a voice coming from somewhere behind the counters. Then I realized that the whole place had become empty and I was the lone man left standing in the darkness. I felt so stupid! As I looked towards the direction from where the voice seemed to come, I saw a police officer addressing me and asking what was wrong. I explained my situation to him, that I had to transfer the car in my friend’s name before I left the country that evening.

The police officer took my application and told me to come to the rear entrance of the building. I rushed out and went around the building looking for the rear entrance. It was a restricted area, entry allowed only for police personnel. As I approached the rear entrance, I saw the police officer standing in the hot Sun with a file in his hand. As I approached him, he handed over the transfer completion document and a manually prepared receipt for cash payment. I gave him the money and took the document, thanking him profusely. He just smiled and said “no problem, go”.

The police personnel in Oman are extremely courteous. Even if you are pulled up, the first thing they would do is greet you with “Salam Alaikum”, followed by hand shake and then only they get down to business. It is really very heart warming, something quite different as compared with what happens around some parts of the world. Of course as the saying goes, “you can always find few rotten apples in every basket”. But, it is better to cherish the good experiences and forget the bad ones.

But I was too flabbergasted at what just happened. It was absolutely unbelievable that someone, a police officer at that, would go to such an extent to help you out in such a situation. He could have just as well looked the other way and carried on with his work. But he chose to empathize with the state of quandary I was in. Something really extraordinary! 

Later when I returned to Oman, I went looking for the kind police officer. I remembered him only by his face. I searched, but could not locate him. I tried to look for him during subsequent visits but coild not find him. Either he had been moved to another department or location or he had retired. However, to this day, I cherish his act of kindness.

                                 *****